I’m very happy to report that I’ll be going to Hawaii for the first time next week. I’ve been many places in the world, but never to the 50th US state, so I’m really looking forward to discovering the local food scene, beyond the typical tourist stuff.
The tour is sponsored by HawaiiHTA (www.GoHawaii.com), the tourism agency for the state, and will bring together a group of bloggers in different subject areas to learn about all the state has to offer. We’ll each have specialized itineraries to explore in depth the areas of our interest, while on a whirlwind tour of 4 of the islands!
The entire trip will be well documented, as there are a number of great bloggers attending, and we will be live tweeting, twitpic’ing, and posting videoblogs as the trip progresses, and whenever we can get to a good strong wi-fi connection! The other participants are:
Rick Calvert Founder, Blog World Expo www.blogworldexpo.com @blogworld
Jim Turner, Blog World Expo, www.onebyonemedia.com @genuine
Aric S. Queen, Value/Budget Blogger www.Uptake.com @aricsqueen
Leah Lamb, Eco Blogger, Current Green www.currentmedia.com @leahlamb
Shira Lazar, Solo Vacation/R&R Blogger www.shiralazar.com @shiralazar
Sheila Scarborough, Family Travel Blogger www.sheilascarborough.com @sheilas
And yours truly. I’m the FOOD guy!
I’ll be guided around the islands by local Hawaii Food bloggers:
Melissa Chang from the Urban Mix Plate Blog @Melissa808
and Melanie Kosaka from Share Your Table @shareyourtable
The Twitter hashtag will be #HawaiiHTA
I think it’s such a great way for Hawaii to promote what’s available beyond the cliche’d leis, luaus, and mai tais. I hear that they’ll even be creating a micro-site to bring together all the diverse media that will be produced.
May 21st, 2009 at 1:52 am
WOW- What a great time! I will be following this seeing how I will be visiting Maui in June. We are big ‘foodies’ so this will be great. Along with the Pilates that is. . .
have fun!
May 21st, 2009 at 2:00 am
Great Angella! It will be my first trip too, so I’m looking for all theinfo I can get. here are a few links that may help as you prepare for your trip:
http://www.beachwalks.tv/2006/08/21/beach-walks-180-made-in-hawaii-ono-licious/
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?client=safari&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=101792189394839495926.0004603904e1b24f21002&z=13
http://www.honolulumagazine.com/Honolulu-Magazine/March-2008/Best-of-HONOLULU-Magazine-2008/Food/
May 21st, 2009 at 5:29 pm
Chef,
Before you go to Hawaii, check out our website and click
on the Great Chefs of Hawaii. Alan Wong in Honolulu is
fantastic and Sam Choy is a great guy and fun. Have a
good trip….we did when we shot the series. I don’t
think we will have it up on YouTube.com/greatchefs in
time for your departure however, we are running another
series up there now.
John
May 21st, 2009 at 5:39 pm
Thanks, John! I look forward to seeing your series. Please send us the links when it’s up and I’ll post it here when you do. We’ve got a few of the chefs lined up for demos, as well. I’ll be spending some time with Chef Mavro and with DK Kodama, as well as a couple others.
I’ve always been a huge fan of your show on PBS. I didn’t know you were showing your clips on YouTube. great to meet you!
-Chef Mark
May 24th, 2009 at 9:32 am
I’ll be looking forward to your tweets and blog entries from Hawaii. My husband and I recently returned from our own off-the-beaten-path trip to the Big Island and Molokai’i, which I tweeted about (with photos) using the hashtag #Hawaii. The slow food movement is alive and well in Hawaii. You’ll be discovering excellent dishes prepared from local food sources. It’s amazing how much better the food tastes when it comes from just up the road. We certainly found that on our stay at Waianuhea, http://myitchytravelfeet.com/2009/05/07/hawaii-aloha-spirit-waianuhea-bed-breakfast/
I’ll be looking forward to your blog posts and tweets from Hawaii. Have fun. Eat well.
May 24th, 2009 at 11:49 am
Thanks, Donna! That seems like quite the adventure! We’ll be making some of our own, and yes, it’s already clear that the idea of eating local is NOT a new one on the islands, where it’s long been a necessity. We’ll be doing a couple of farm to table adventures, and having the chefs do some cooking demos for us.
-Mark
May 27th, 2009 at 3:44 am
WOW- What a great time! I will be following this seeing how I will be visiting Maui in June. We are big ‘foodies’ so this will be great. Along with the Pilates that is. . .
have fun!